I have one and it works great!! Put the battery on and away you go. No priming, pulling, and warming up. It's super light for those times when ice thickness or weather require a guy to use shoe leather to get out to a spot. I would not however, use my ION for running and gunning. For that I use my gas auger. If the battery gets cold, the ION won't work and the safety button on the handle is tough to use while wearing winter gloves. That being said, for those trips where I know about where I am going to fish and will only be drilling 15 holes or so, the ION is the auger I use.

Ice gator looks good but IMHO they need to drop their price big time; if they did have it a 500 with an auger like the ion, then I might look harder at it; ion has impressed so far for those that have one.

Ice gator looks good but IMHO they need to drop their price big time; if they did have it a 500 with an auger like the ion, then I might look harder at it; ion has impressed so far for those that have one.

kdm Said:
I have one and it works great!! I would not however, use my ION for running and gunning. For that I use my gas auger.That being said, for those trips where I know about where I am going to fish and will only be drilling 15 holes or so, the ION is the auger I use.

I don't own one, however this is my take on the new battery operated augers. You have to think about how your going to be fishing. If you know that you never plan to drill more than say 20-30 holes in an outing or have a gas auger as back up.... then I think its the route to go.

If not, you will have to purchase a gas auger also. Since I only want one auger right now, it will be gas. I don't want my auger to limit how I fish.

I just spent the weekend pre-fishing and then fished a tournament on Osakis in MN. While prefishing I punched 250-300 holes a day both days and 150 or so on tournament day with my Icegator. It was an average temp of -5 all weekend. Ice was 10-14".
The auger drilled the last hole of each day just like the first, fast and smooth.
After this outing I am convinced these are the way to go for running and gunning.
Also, the battery remained on the auger in the elements all day. I did charge it each night after fishing.

I just got an icegator and used it for the 1st time yesterday and all I can say is it was really impressive. I put an 8" Niles flighting on it and it cuts unbelievable....I liked my 3hp. jiffy stealth but it was to heavy and will not miss the gas mixing and leaking..

So how much total do you have invested in it; sounds like a nice set up for sure!!!

fishnnut Said:
I just got an icegator and used it for the 1st time yesterday and all I can say is it was really impressive. I put an 8" Niles flighting on it and it cuts unbelievable....I liked my 3hp. jiffy stealth but it was to heavy and will not miss the gas mixing and leaking..

It's $540 plus shipping for the power head and I went with the Niles flighting which was 189 but you could go with a much cheaper flighting which would make the whole unit not much more than a top of the line gas now adays.....Guess a little more for the convience and no worries about starting mixing gas etc. sold me. After using it yesterday I can't believe I waited this long to go electric. I wouldn't even consider a gas if it continues to work like it did yesterday...time will tell I guess. And no I don't work for Icegator ..LOL

fishnnut Said:
It's $540 plus shipping for the power head and I went with the Niles flighting which was 189 but you could go with a much cheaper flighting which would make the whole unit not much more than a top of the line gas now adays.....Guess a little more for the convience and no worries about starting mixing gas etc. sold me. After using it yesterday I can't believe I waited this long to go electric. I wouldn't even consider a gas if it continues to work like it did yesterday...time will tell I guess. And no I don't work for Icegator ..LOL

johnr Said:
I like the smell of gas in the cold mornings with some exhaust mixed in. Smells like success to me

Almost as nice as the smell of gunpowder!

Genuine conservatism promotes cautious and prudent change, respect for tradition, stewardship, humility, responsibility and fact-based decision making. It is concerned with both individual and societal well-being. With regard to government, conservatism favors a government that is lean, efficient and effective -- not impotent.